In constructing an access network with optical fibers, optical connectors are desired to be attached to optical fibers on site. Such an optical connector for fusion splicing that is to be attached on site includes a stub in which an embedded optical fiber is attached to a ferrule. A glass fiber that is the embedded optical fiber of the stub is fusion-spliced to a glass fiber included in an outside optical fiber on site (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2005-531020, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2005-531045, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2010-504545, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-227946, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-82257). A spliced portion at which the glass fibers are fused and spliced to each other is reinforced with a reinforcing member provided thereover.
To fusion-splice the glass fiber included in the stub and the glass fiber included in the outside optical fiber with each other, the glass fibers are set on a fusion splicer and the tips thereof are positioned by aligning the glass fibers to a splicing position where discharge electrodes are provided. After fusion splicing is performed, the spliced portion is reinforced at a position for reinforcing work that is different from the position for fusion splicing work. Regarding this process, there are some techniques of moving optical fibers while preventing the optical fibers from bending or twisting.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2005-531020, a mechanism that moves a fixing part, where a stub and an optical fiber are fixed, and electrodes relative to each other is provided, and fusion splicing is performed with the fixing part and the electrodes being positioned close to each other. In a case where such a mechanism is provided, the fixing part or the electrodes need to be returned to the initial positions accurately before subsequent fusion splicing work is performed. It is difficult, however, to return them accurately, resulting in a possible misplacement. Consequently, the reliability in fusion splicing is reduced. Movement mechanisms that are disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-130243 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-109946 are movable relatively accurately. Instead, the configurations of the mechanisms are complicated and of large scales, leading to a cost increase. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-286599 discloses a technique in which a handle is provided to a ferrule gripping tool, and by gripping the handle and an optical fiber as an object of splicing, the optical fiber and a ferrule are moved after they have been fusion-spliced to each other. In this technique, the cost increase is smaller than that of the technique employing movement mechanisms, but the optical fiber may remain axially rotated, or twisted.